Of Trash Cans and Temes
by mutualAnimosity
Summary: One shot based on a prompt from my creative writing class. I had to do a character sketch by examining the contents of a character's trash can. This is the rather exploded result. SasuNaru. Kind of angsty, but turns fluffy near the end. Please forgive my lack of experience writing SasuNaru.


This is a one shot based on a prompt for my creative writing class. I had to do a character sketch by examining the items in their trash can. This is the extended and exploded version. (The original ended right when it switches point of views). Please forgive typos; my iPad's spell check is kind of wacko and insane.

* * *

"Teme, when's the last time you emptied your trashcan?" I say. My roommate lifts his dark head up sleepily from his desk. "...What? Oh, I don't know..."  
I sigh, shifting onto my back on my hard mattress, and rub my temple, annoyed. "I can tell. It's practically overflowing."  
"If it's annoying you so much just go empty it, usuratonkachi..." If Sasuke was going to say anything after that, he doesn't get a chance to because he's fallen asleep. I pity him and his AP courses.  
Well, it's not going to do me any good if the trashcan just sits there... I sigh again, and reluctantly get up. I walk over to Sasuke's desk to pick up his wastebasket. It's full of dead pens and crumpled papers, with coffee cups randomly dispersed throughout. I guess it's partly my fault that the trashcan got to this point, seeing as we share a room.  
I glance at my dozing roommate for a brief moment. He looks so peaceful, even though he's sleeping at his desk. The hard stress lines from school are completely erased from his face, and I half-smile slightly wistfully. He smells of oranges.

The hallway outside the dorm has clusters of students chatting in groups, and people sauntering lazily out of and into their dorms. So it's no surprise that someone runs into me accidentally.  
The contents of Sasuke's trashcan scatter sporadically across the hallway's cheap carpeting. The person whom I hit possesses a head of hair so shockingly pink that I almost start and drop even more trash. It's obviously dyed, but still... Crap.  
She's one of the fangirls.  
Crap, crap, crap!  
"Oh, sumimasen, Naruto-kun." She smiles. "Let me help you pick those up."  
I accept the help, but when she tries to make conversation (they're all like that) I give her curt, simple, ambiguous answers. The less information she has on me, the better. They all know I'm Sasuke's roommate, and have attempted to use me to get to him before. No doubt she'll pass on anything she can glean from me onto her fellow "Uchiha-sempai Fan Club" members, and then I'll be in deep crap, mainly because Sasuke'll me mad.  
However, she politely leaves when all the trash has been picked up. Maybe she wasn't as bad as I thought she was.  
That's one of my flaws- I'm quick to judge. But I digress.  
The trash that the girl picked up- Sakura, I think her name was- she threw away when she left, even though I don't see a trash can nearby (maybe she took it. That's a disturbing thought). But there's still a few bits that I have to get rid of on my own.  
Sasuke has four empty styrofoam salad containers (no wonder he's so skinny); a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks; several used tissues; three written on, crumpled sheets of notepaper of various sizes; and some Christmas-y gift wrap. Also, there's something that resembles a card that people usually give with presents. It's difficult to tell, though, because it's shredded into such minuscule pieces.  
I wonder what caused him to do that.  
I feel strange and slightly like a stalker for digging through my roommate's trash, but something is obviously wrong. The notepaper, when unfolded, are notes to someone, but most of the writing is scribbled out and one of the sheets is torn in half, which accounts for the papers of different sizes. I can make out part of the heading and first paragraph of one of the papers. Parts are unreadable.  
"Hey, [illegible]  
I just wanted to say that, for [illegible] now that I've considered [illegible] you. And now I'm doing it. You don't have to care, and you can feel free to punch me or ignore me or whatever it is that U[illegible] do, but I just wanted to let you know!.I can't wear this mask much longer.  
Yours,  
Sasuke."  
It sounds like either Sasuke is confessing to someone or going to commit suicide because of someone. I dearly hope it isn't the latter. My grip tightens on the paper, and I crumple it in my fist and shake my head. Sasuke has no reason to commit suicide. I sprint back to the dorm, leaving behind the trash can in my haste. Heads turn in the hallway, tracking me, wondering silently, "Why is Uzumaki so flustered?" I can read it on their faces.  
I slam open the dorm door, a crashing noise that wakes up Sasuke from his position on the desk.  
"What? Naruto..? Don't be so loud, dobe..."  
I cut him off, panic in my voice, "Sasuke! Don't commit suicide!"  
"What?" Sasuke is wide awake now. "What makes you think I was going to commit suicide?" he asks.  
"This note, in your trash..." I wave it around lamely. Clearly, I was mistaken in my assumption, judging by Sasuke's disbelieving and "what's the dobe going on about now" expression.  
"Oh, that... Ignore it. It's not important. And what were you in my trash for!"  
"I was throwing it away..."  
"And you decided to root around in it before doing so?"  
"No," I snap. "It's a long story..."  
"Naruto..." He sighs. "Believe me, that note is not a suicide note. It's something very private. Don't try to read any more of it." He proffers his hand, and I hand it to him, a defeated expression in my face. I've never seen him this serious, and that's an achievement seeing as he goes around all day with such an aloof, condescending expression. Sasuke's opinion of me seems to be similar, but to the opposite effect: I've never seen him this worried about me.  
Sasuke very carefully unfolds the note, flattens it, and systematically begins tearing it into long rectangular strips. He then takes the strips and rips them into minuscule squares. This looks to be the same method that he used to destroy the card. That must have been private too.  
Both he and I are silent for a time.  
"Go," he states suddenly, his voice sounding strangled. This is not a request. It is a demand, albeit one voiced half-heartedly. A strange, unplaceable expression flits across his pale features. "Please go."  
I briefly consider protesting, but don't. He looks pitiful. Turning around slowly and carefully, I exit the dorm, shutting the door softly behind me.  
My knees go weak and I sink jaggedly to the floor, leaning heavily against the doorframe for support. I am suddenly exhausted; that conversation was more demanding that I realized.  
I wonder what Sasuke feels.

* * *

He doesn't realize.  
He doesn't realize what that note was. A dazed expression clothes my face; a wheezy laugh and relieved smile join it. I fall back in my chair, a large part of me glad that he doesn't know, but somewhere in the back of my head, a tiny fiber of my being wishes he did.  
Then everything would be so much easier.  
A loud thud emanates from the other side of the door, and I know he's collapsed against it.  
Maybe...  
He's confused, conflicted. This much is evident.  
Maybe a small part of him...  
Maybe a small part of him feels the same, even if he doesn't realize it himself.  
I am deep in thought. Minutes pass, and from what I can tell, Naruto hasn't moved from his position at the door.  
That is, until it creaks open slightly. Naruto peeks his head in, almost warily, almost worried. "Sasuke? May I come in?"  
I respond slowly. "Yeah."  
His movements careful, almost pre-planned, he sits on his mattress. "Sasuke? I've been thinking..."  
"I have, too," I say. "You want to know what I could have written on that note that I was so worked up about."  
"Yeah," he admits reluctantly. He scoots backwards and leans against the wall behind his bed, still sitting. He brings his knees close to his chest and looks down, arms resting on the inside of his jeans. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."  
I pause, a eternal, fleeting moment of silence passing between us.  
"Fine," I finally say, quietly. "It was a confession."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. A confession to you, actually."  
Naruto looks shocked for a span of seconds, his face turning red, frame going rigid and fists clenching, but then his features relax. "Okay, that's not what I was expecting at all."  
"That's what I thought you would say." I look away, not meeting his eyes out of embarrassment.  
An agonizing period where neither of us talks occurs. Naruto appears to be lost in thought, musing over my revelation. His brows are furrowed, eyes half-closed.  
I simply wait to see what he will do.  
I'm glad he didn't react explosively. I don't know what prompted me to tell him what I wrote, but now that I have, there's no resetting time. It's up to him, now.  
What he says next is so surprising, I fall out of my chair. My butt meets the hard dormitory flooring with a muffled whump. I scramble back up quickly, knocking over a container of pencils.  
"Kiss me."  
I go beet red, heat flooding my face.  
"I can't just kiss you like that!" I stutter, protesting.  
"I want you to."  
"But-" I compose myself. "Why?"  
"I want to test something."  
"No," I reply. "I can't just kiss you."  
"Fine, then."  
He gets up and the realization of what he's about to do hits me at the same time as his mouth. I am initially shocked, but surrender and allow myself to drown in the barrage of delicious sensations that are created when he meshes his mouth with mine. It's rough and intense and unexpected, enduring for several moments until I break it reluctantly. "Why did you do that," I ask flatly.  
"My hypothesis has been proven correct."  
"What hypothesis?"  
"That you've never kissed anyone."  
"That's not true!" I object indignantly.  
"Yes, it is. Admit it, Sasuke. Look in a mirror, you're blushing like a girl. And I've never seen you so flustered and so full of emotion before."  
"I've never seen you exhibit such qualities of deductive reasoning before."  
"..Teme."  
"Usuratonkachi."  
"Prick."  
"Dobe."  
"Bastard."  
"Asshole."  
"Idiot."  
"Virgin."  
This continues until we run out of insults and break down laughing; Naruto has called me a "duck-headed smartass with blue gorilla skin and green teeth". I really have no idea where that one came from.  
"Hey, Naruto?" I ask between wheezes.  
"Yeah, teme?"  
"You've never kissed anyone either."  
"Not true!"  
"Is so."  
"..Yeah."  
We both grin, and laugh some more. This whole incident has been strange and random, and I have no idea how we progressed from discussing suicide with such seriousness twenty minutes earlier to this "we're all going to die from laughter" state now. But I don't care to explain it.  
I feel warm and fuzzy inside, and pinch myself because I better not be dreaming.  
Naruto kissed me of his own volition and that's all that matters.  
Naruto.  
I smile happily and he asks me why and I say nothing because he can read it all on my face.  
My mask has been broken.  
When I leave this dorm, I will put the pieces back on, but now is all that matters. Who cares about Uchiha seriousness and indifference, I have Naruto.  
And that's all that matters.

* * *

I don't really like the ending and it gets kind of iffy once it switches to Sasuke POV but wwhatevva.


End file.
